Dr Singh using Assam for political gains: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday attacked the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre and accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of neglecting and using Assam, which he has been representing since 1991, for his "political advantages".

"Manmohan Singh went to the Rajya Sabha from Assam in 1991. He has been the prime minister for the past nine and half years. Can he tell the people what has he done for the
state," said BJP's Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad.

"I am sorry to say Manmohan Singh used Assam for his political advantages... Manmohan Singh, you have prospered, but you left behind Assam," he alleged.

Prasad, along with his senior party colleagues Gopinath Munde, S S Ahluwalia, Nirmala Sitaraman and Arti Mehra, came to Assam for a two-day visit to prepare a "charge-sheet" against the United Progressive Alliance government.

"In the last two terms of the UPA, no big factory came to this region. If Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi's Amethi can have so many big government projects, then why can't a single big project be launched in Assam," Prasad questioned.

Earlier, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had worked for Assam and now the party’s PM candidate Narendra Modi will work for Assam, he added.

When asked if the BJP will form an alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad as it did in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Prasad declined to give a direct answer and said, "The wind is
favourable for the BJP this time. We will discuss it later with the state leadership, but people want us to fight alone in Assam."

On the Aam Aadmi Party, he said the BJP is still the largest party in Delhi and he hoped that current Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will initiate a probe against former chief minister Sheila Dikshit for her alleged involvement in the Commonwealth Games scams in 2010.

Munde said, "During its two terms, the UPA dragged the country downwards. It did not fulfill its promises. It has completely failed to contain inflation."

He also alleged that India has never witnessed so many corruption charges against any government since Independence as compared to the UPA-II.

"To bring out the true picture of the Congress and the UPA, we are preparing a charge-sheet. We are meeting people and listening to their grievances," Munde said.